SPEAKER
Mr. Omari Issa- Board Chairman, Tanesco
MODERATOR
Mr John Ulanga – Ambassador and Director of International Trade and Economic Diplomacy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation.
FACILITATOR
1. Mrs Lilian Nyakyi-Chiume, Management consultant.
2. Ms. Phelicia Mchemi, CEO IRIS Executive & Advisory Services Africa.
In this session, Omari Issa gave a powerful insight into Developing Leadership Talents and An empowered workplace for growth and retention.
Omari Issa Shared, a good manager gives credit to their team and readily accepts responsibility when things go wrong. These tendencies tend to build stronger personalities and encourage employees to perform at a premium level while taking ownership of their roles effectively and with certainty.
Mr. Omari added that being able to think for the long term is among the most desirable attributes of a keen manager. Understanding that good talent requires a substantially long time to develop and keep means that a person in a managerial role will appreciate the qualities that experienced employees can provide to an organization.
In essence, and with these inputs in mind, Mr. Issa fundamentally stressed that an organization is about people and not infrastructure. When organizations understand that they need to invest in having the best minds, this eventually translates into them becoming more competitive entities because they morph into better work environments for everyone regardless of their role or position.
He recalled his tenure at Celtel when he preferred to move senior executives between countries to allow them to experience new environments, cultures, new markets, and challenges in a deliberate bid to improve their people management capabilities.
Delegating is best done when a manager allows the person assuming their role temporarily to take full charge without the need to consult the manager for any matter. The person left in temporary charge must be able to make decisions as if they were the manager themselves. This, he said, is the best way to help them build their confidence and skills and consequently develop into high-quality leaders needed to drive an organization forward.
Mr. Omari Issa
Board Chair, TANESCO
Omari Issa has extensive business experience in the public and private sectors, having worked in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. He currently chairs the Board of the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco).
From March 2017 to December 2018, he served as the CEO of the Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete
Foundation. Between May 2013 and April 2016, Omari Issa served as the Chief Executive Officer of the President’s Delivery Bureau, an institution established to oversee implementation of Tanzania’s Public Delivery Transformation Programme termed Big Results Now (BRN). Previously, as Chief Executive Officer of the Investment Climate Facility for Africa (ICF), Mr. Issa was responsible for managing the ICF’s seven-year programme to improve Africa’s investment climate and remove barriers to growth.
He has first-hand experience of the realities of doing business in Africa, having previously worked as Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of Celtel International, where he played an instrumental role in managing Celtel’s growth and expansion across the continent. Prior to working at Celtel, Mr. Issa spent fourteen years with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and six years with the World Bank.
Omari is a member of the International Advisory Council of China Investment Corporation. Omari chaired the Amref Health Africa International Board for 6 years from September 2013 to December 2019. He served on the CTBC Board in Brazil, the Rwanda Development Board and served as an Independent Non-Executive Director at Millicom International Cellular SA. He chaired the Tanzania Telecommunications Board as well as Celtel Boards in Tanzania, Gabon, DRC. Mr. Issa holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from The Polytechnic of Central London, and an MBA from Columbia University, New York.
